A Powell man spent parts of two days in jail and is now serving six months of probation for apparently taking his dislike of Tesla owner Elon Musk too far.

Court records say Stephen Adams dumped a bottle of yellow liquid on a Cybertruck in Cody last summer, then yelled at its 71-year-old owner and claimed he had a gun when she confronted him.

“I’m ashamed of my actions, and I’m never gonna do anything like them again,” Adams said at a Friday appearance in Park County Circuit Court. The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of breach of peace.

Numerous Teslas were targeted and vandalized across the country early last year as part of opposition to Musk’s actions as the head of the Trump administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency. At Friday’s hearing, Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah asked Adams if his September actions stemmed from being angry at Musk.

“Well, I’ve never really liked the vehicle in particular and … perhaps, your honor, yes,” Adams said.

Darrah told Adams he’s free to make political statements, but crossed the line by trampling on the truck owner’s rights.

“I certainly respect the fact that you don’t like the vehicle, maybe [don’t] like the politics of the person that owned the company, but there’s other ways to show your disdain, certainly,” Darrah said, “and you did traumatize this lady.”

While the electric vehicle was not damaged, the longtime Cody resident was frightened by the encounter.

“Cody has always felt like a safe haven in a troubled world,” she wrote in a victim impact statement. “Mr. Adam’s actions shattered that feeling.”

She thought Cody was safe

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 outside of the Cody Walgreens. Surveillance footage showed Adams exiting the store with a water bottle in hand, which he then emptied onto the truck’s hood and windshield, Cody Police Officer Jason Potter wrote in an affidavit supporting the case.

As Adams began to walk away, the truck’s owner got out of the vehicle and confronted Adams. He reportedly yelled at her to get away and grabbed his fanny pack, claiming he had a gun, the affidavit and letter from the owner say.

As Adams sped away, a female tourist checked on the truck owner.

“In some ways, the worst thing was her comment to me that she had always thought small western towns like Cody were safe, but obviously they are not,” the Cody truck owner recounted in her letter. “How sad is that?”

The “scared” owner called police and gave them a picture she’d taken of the car Adams was driving. Potter later learned the 2024 Toyota Corolla was registered to one of Adams’ family members, and when police shared surveillance footage of the incident to Facebook, multiple people identified the suspect as Adams.

He was arrested in Cody in early November. At his initial Nov. 7 court appearance, Adams indicated that he had recently gotten sober and had been “kind of on shaky ground” at the time of the incident. He was released on a $5,000 surety bond while the case was pending.

What was in the bottle?

It’s unclear what substance was dumped on the Tesla. The owner believes it was urine, but in court on Friday, it was simply referred to as an “unidentified liquid.”

Darrah referenced that uncertainty in his remarks. 

“I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot, you wouldn’t want to have this happen to your vehicle, would you?” the judge asked Adams at one point, adding, “Nobody knew what this was.”

Adams said he understood and apologized again. He said earlier that he initially hadn’t realized anyone was in the truck.

“I’m very sorry,” he said, adding, “I didn’t mean it for there to be a confrontation, and I didn’t want to scare anybody.”

While on probation, Adams must obey the law and have no contact with the truck owner or else he could face up to 13 more days of jail time. He was also ordered to pay $750 to the court, which he paid on Friday.

Darrah said he believed that Adams had learned his lesson.